The title says it all. I will soon be delving into busking and was hoping that those of you who do this routinely might have some pointers. Note that I have done my research as it pertains to applicable city codes and all that. Any and all advice is more than appreciated.

I have found that busking with a partner works well. Either a harp player or another 6stg player that can sing a little bit.I think that the interpersonal give and take with the listeners is almost as important and as much fun as playing the music.Around where we play, we have found that throwing in a fair amount of C&W helps with the cash flow. We stick pretty close to the blues but like to throw in a shocker or two every now and then; either an old standard or Metallica.

When I was in New Orleans I would "pseudo-busk" technically if you took money you need a license but I just sat on my stoop alot playing and would take my hat off....if some money fell in it it wasnt my fault! Where I live now in the country I dont have that oppurtunity.....

don't start with an empty guitar case, throw in some coins AND a $ note, a good example is usually followed

if you have a dog, take it with you, unless it does what mine used to do: go sleep in the guitar case an throw out any money passers by would throw in... she actually picked it up with her teeth and "spit" it out next to the case... she was an act all by herself

Folks, I really appreciate the feedback! Lummo, I never considered sitting on the ground cross legged for a number of reasons, fire ants being one. The spot I've picked out has benches, but figured I'd just stand and play and let any interested in listening have the seating. As for music, I plan on a mix of blues, country, gospel, and a couple of original ditties I've come up with. I only plan to take one git at a time, so one session will be with my spider bridge reso in standard tuning and the next time my biscuit bridge reso in G. I don't have any expectations of setting the world on fire, just have a need to play and have decided that I'll play for myself and if something's thrown into the git case or not, so be it. Any monies that might come, I've decided to keep enough to pay for a couple of bottles of H2O and the rest I'm going to donate to the local St. Vincent DePaul Society. Chances are I'll end up being a complete disaster, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Oh, almost forgot, jaybee thanks for your suggestion, I never even considered that, but it does make sense.

I found a spot on a street with a lot of restaurants. I also learned that if our Triple A baseball team is playing in town I got good money, same is true if there was an event of some type in town that brought in out of towners. Out of towners gave bills where in towners gave up change. I thanked every one. I used a coffee can for collections and there was a couple of times I had dudes hanging around my coffee can, I believe they were gonna do a snatch and run so I would move closer to the can and they would go away. Homeless types with guitars and harmonicas would want to join in but I could tell by the looks on peoples faces that these homeless types scared givers away so I would run them off. I used the coffee can because we tend to always have a slight breeze in Utah and the bills would not blow away. I would put the $5's and $10's in my pocket as soon as there was no one around, remember the dudes I believe was going to snatch and run. Lastly, I always started with a couple of $1's and change of my own money, it let the people think others had so I should to.

Homeless and even more likely "gutterpunks" are indeed liable to do a snatch - in general, a sense of humor is the best defense, although I did once drop a brass bodied guitar on a gutterpunks hand as it was reaching for some of my swag. Looked like it hurt, too. But in general, street people are part of the parade, and can add to the fun.

Just don't let passersby see you mad. It's only loose cash, even if you needed it to live on.

After a while, you'll start to see the flow of the street - busking is the best seat in the house for people watching.